Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my information is that even though there's all this extra work that needs to be put through to do these retroactive files, which I hear is very labour -intensive, there are no additional staff being hired, so the contingent of payroll officers that are in place have to do this as extra work on top of their regular work. So, Mr. Speaker, this is outrageous, this is totally unacceptable and I urge the Minister of FMBS and this government to take immediate steps to do better and pay these officers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, thank you. This summer has, as the Premier has reflected in his sessional statement, seen a level of activity that can only guarantee that the NWT's future as one of Canada's most vibrant and vigorous economies will continue. The overall economic growth for 2003 here in the NWT was 10.6 percent; six times that of Canada. Over the next three years or so we will see two new diamond mines constructed: Snap Lake in the NWT and the nearby Jericho project in Nunavut. We will see the continuing acceleration of production at the other diamond mines. Mr. Speaker, both Diavik and BHP earn dazzling profit margins as they shave years off the expected life of those mines. In the energy portfolio, we are told to expect $50 million in this winter's seismic exploration and drilling programs in the Mackenzie Delta as producers chase new supplies of record-breaking prices for a world that knows no limits in its hunger for energy.

We've seen the planning advance for the Bear River hydro station to help power the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, and that pipeline, Mr. Speaker, also advanced to its long-awaited filing for regulatory approval. At 1,200 kilometres

and $7 billion, it is the biggest and most challenging prize for all of the 42,000 people of the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, I don't want to spend too much time reading from the Minister of RWED's script. Instead I'd like to focus on what should be in the Premier's notes and report on what all this action means for us here in the NWT. The question we've always been asking, what's in it for us, has yet to be answered, Mr. Speaker. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ledger -- the social side of the ledger -- we have a litany of crises and shortage that in an era of so much wealth and prosperity, amounts to a legacy of shame in the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, we have schools with roofs that collapse and foundations that crumble. Our Housing Corporation tells us that there are 3,000 families in core need of a safe, affordable place to live. We have rates of alcohol and substance abuse that eclipse the national average by five times and more. Mr. Speaker, I should seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Mr. Braden, you may conclude your statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To continue on the social side of that ledger, battered and abused women and their children used emergency shelters at a rate eight times the national average in the year 2001-2002, and yet this Legislature is struggling with how to trim our budget by $20 million in each of the next two years. In the meantime, over those same two years, Ottawa will reap in excess of an estimated $350 million from our resources. What's wrong with this picture? Are we destined to be only a cash cow for the federal treasury while our people catch only a few crumbs of precious resources as they literally fly out of here at unprecedented rates? Where is the legacy? What's in it for us?

Last week, Mr. Speaker, the Throne Speech promised a strategy for the North. I'm as encouraged as anyone that Ottawa seems finally to be waking up to our plight, as well as our potential, but it was four years ago that DIAND promised to resolve the devolution issue of resource riches for the NWT and that deal is still a far-off fantasy.

We must temper, Mr. Speaker, whatever optimism we have for that strategy with clear resolve and a strong dose of reality, if we are to help ourselves to gain a share of what is already ours. Achieving devolution must be the single and most urgent priority before this Assembly, for at the rate we are going, the future is ours to lose. As those diamond mines accelerate and that pipeline advances, we don't have a day to lose. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The Chair will recognize the Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Excuse me, Mr. Menicoche. Your time for your Member's statement has expired.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. Politically, too, the First Nations do want to have recognition for using the lands that they have lived on since time immemorial. I will strive to be supportive of these efforts.

In closing, I would once again like to applaud this government for taking the time to visit the communities in my riding, especially the smaller communities. There's no doubt in my mind that community visits such as these on a

regular basis are a valuable exercise in effecting good representative government in the North. I will most certainly be extending more invitations to the Members of Cabinet to visit my riding in the future. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's fall and we're back to work here in the Legislature. Ahead of us, lie many hours of work and meetings indoors. I've always been very fond of the indoors. I've been in the North for 30 years and, unlike many others who call the North home, I've never had much of a penchant for the great outdoors. I don't think I've ever been camping, I hate to admit.

But whether it was sun or rain or wind or cold...

---Laughter

...or bugs, there always seemed a very good reason to stay indoors. I haven't travelled much and I've never been that curious about far away places and I've always been quite content and enjoyed whatever it was that I was doing in Hay River; enough not to bother much with vacations or leisure time. I guess I grew up in a family business where it was considered a virtue to stay home and just mind the store, so to speak.

But this summer I took a trip and I think it has changed me for all time. I discovered something that gave me a whole new perspective on the North, the people and even my job as an elected Member. I discovered what has to be one of the most interesting places on earth, a place that drew explorers and sightseers and adventurers and it was right on my doorstep for the last 30 years. I discovered the mighty Mackenzie River.

My husband and I left Hay River on short notice with just a few supplies and, of course, the satellite phone just in case. We drove to Simpson and then on to Wrigley and launched a jet boat. I had heard a lot about the Mackenzie and the communities along its path; but 10 hours later, we were in Fort Good Hope and it was one of those things we'd always said we'd do, but I never believed we ever would. Unbeknownst to me, people in Hay River were taking bets as to which community I would fly back from, but I loved every minute on the river.

We met so many interesting people and friends along the way in the communities; stopping in Norman Wells, Tulita, Fort Good Hope, Wrigley, Simpson and Jean Marie River on our way back. The traffic and activity along the river, the Coast Guard, the tugs, barges, the canoeists, the other jet boats, the fish camps, the rapids, the ramparts and the very important channel markers and buoys were also interesting. How could I have lived in Hay River for 30 years and not known about the Mackenzie River? Was it possible to live in the North and know so little about the connections of the people to each other and to the land? I found something in the visits with the people and the sights and sounds that took me to another place and another time. I would like to request unanimous consent to continue my statement, Mr. Speaker.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I have a different perspective now when we sit indoors and talk about the communities and the residents that I got to know a little bit better this summer in the course of one short week, and I want to thank everyone who we encountered along the way for their kindness and hospitality. Just to name a very few: the Pellissey family in Wrigley, Fred Andrew and his children in Tulita who we stayed with, and the warm hospitality of Chief Ron Piro and the people of Fort Good Hope. Incidentally, I did run into on this trip, as well, Mr. Bell, Mr. Krutko, Mr. Menicoche, Mr. Yakeleya and a few others, actually.

---Laughter

A few other elected leaders who were all working of course. I was the only one on holidays.

---Laugher

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, it was a trip of a lifetime and when I got home I bought the boat and I can't wait. It doesn't look too much like boating weather today with the snow coming down, but I can't wait to get back out on the Mackenzie River next summer and then we'll go right to the Arctic. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Chair recognizes the honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to use my Member's statement today to discuss an issue that I spoke about during the March session. That issue is the construction of an access road from Highway No. 3 to the Kam Lake Industrial Park in the city of Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, there were two incidents this past summer where, in the first, a live missile fell off a CF-18 fighter jet onto the Yellowknife golf course and fortunately nobody was killed or injured in that incident. The very next day a CF-18 fighter pilot was forced to eject after his jet skidded off the end of the runway. Both of these incidents cause me a great deal of concern because both incidents closed the highway and, as we all know, Highway No. 3 is the only route out of the city of Yellowknife.

With the airport located where it is and the two events that I have just mentioned, it really is an issue of public safety. We need another route out of the city of Yellowknife. In order for the City of Yellowknife to be able to afford the construction of the access road, it would need to have the ability to sell the lots along the route. This would be the only way the City of Yellowknife could afford to undertake construction of this access road. I do hope that this government is not getting in the way of the City of Yellowknife building this much-needed access road. I

would impress upon the Minister of Transportation to ensure that his department is working with, and not against, the City of Yellowknife to see that this strategic piece of roadwork is constructed in a timely fashion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Chair recognizes the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off, I would like to say welcome back to everyone. Today one of our honourable colleagues had mentioned it's been 132 days since the House last sat, and it's been a lonely summer without being able to work closely with everyone, so I'm glad to see all the smiling faces again. Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement today is with regard to driver's licence renewal process.

Mr. Speaker, several constituents of mine have brought forward concerns about the dilemma where sometimes, inadvertently, I must stress, they allow their driver's licence to expire beyond the grace period. Mr. Speaker, the NWT driver's licence is designed to be issued for five years. The Department of Transportation, at one time, Mr. Speaker, used to send out notices as reminders to people out there that their licence would expire. As some of you may be or may not be aware, at present to renew your driver's licence it is a cost of $83.56. However, as I mentioned earlier about the grace period, if you allow your driver's licence to expire beyond that grace period, Mr. Speaker, you must start over the entire, complete process.

So what does that really mean to a regular person? Well, Mr. Speaker, that means you have to go out and take your learner's licence again. You have to do your driver's road test again just in order to qualify once again for your class 5 driver's licence, but at that point -- this is the real catcher here, Mr. Speaker -- is instead of $83.56 you are now paying $166.32, Mr. Speaker. So I think that's quite shameful that the cost basically doubles because you have forgotten to renew your licence.

Mr. Speaker, we have to be reminded that people rely on their driver's licence and acknowledge that a driver's licence truly is a privilege to have. Mr. Speaker, some people need their cars to drive their kids to school, people need to drive their cars so that they can go get their groceries, and let's not forget those people who drive for a living. I bet our most honourable Premier had to drive to work today because he doesn't live within walking distance from Prelude. So we have to recognize driving may be a privilege yet it is a necessity, especially here in the North.

Mr. Speaker, the point I'm getting now to is the fact that a person who had their driver's licence expire beyond the grace period had to wait a month before they could retake their exam. Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent to finish my Member's statement? Thank you.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are their any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues, for allowing me to finish my statement. Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, the point that I'm making is that once your driver's licence expires you have to start the process from start to finish again, which could take up to a month and that's happened to some constituents of mine.

Mr. Speaker, I presently hold a class 4 driver's licence which requires an updated medical every five years. Unbeknownst to me, I got a letter from the Department of Transportation as a reminder that I had to submit a current medical in order to keep my class 4 driver's licence current. So the Department of Transportation has the ability to let folks know that their licence is expiring. Later this afternoon, I am going to send questions to the Department of Transportation, our honourable Minister Michael McLeod, in regard to fixing this problem. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Chair recognizes the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.